Everybody needs a good support system. This is especially true when it comes to seating in your Mustang! Unfortunately the stock Mustang Seats are known to let you down. Until now, the only option was to replace the stock seats with an aftermarket style, such as Corbeau Mustang Seats. While this definitely isn't a problem, some of us desire to keep more of an OE Mustang appearance. Kind of a have your cake and eat it too situation. Luckily TMI Products had the forethought to take newer OE Mustang styling and adapt it to previous platforms, like the Fox Mustang. That brainchild developed in to the 2003-2004 Cobra Style Mustang Upholstery for Fox Mustang!

The Fox Mustang 03-04 Cobra Style Upholstery Kit includes new front seat upholstery and rear seat upholstery, along with new front seat foam. The Mustang Front Seat Foam allows you to retain your factory Mustang seat frame while improving look and feel. The foam is higher durometer (firmer) than stock and features much more aggressive bolstering. Both of those attributes combined gives you the added support you need for performance driving!

Before you get started, make sure you have a few specialty tools and accessories present. First and foremost you need a set of hog ring pliers and a whole fistfull of hog rings. A can of spray adhesive will come in to play for the 1984-1991 Mustang knee bolster. Grab a heavy duty staple gun that will handle either a 1/2" or 3/8" crown staple that is no more than 1/4" in length. Get the staples too! Have several lightwieght/thin trash bags on hand; you'll thank me for this later. A sharp razor knife will come in handy too, as well as a push pin removal tool. Finally, grab a set of common hand tools that includes a basic assortment of wrenches, ratchets, sockets, hammers, screwdrivers, and pliers.

With any installation, it begins with removal. For this Mustang project it will be a multi-part process; starting with getting the seats out of your Mustang. Beginning with the drivers side front seat, pull off the seat track foot covers, there are four (if they are still present). Slide the seat rearward and remove the two 15mm seat track retaining nuts. Slide the seat forward, tilt the seat back forward, and remove the two 15mm headed seat track retaining bolts. Tilt the seat upward and unplug the power lumbar and power seat track, if equipped. Remove the seat from the car and repeat for the other side. To remove the rear seats from a 1984-1993 Mustang Hatchback, start by applying pressure to the forward edge of the seat bottom (pushing toward the rear of the car) and lift at the same time. This will free the lower seat cushion from the car. Then, lower the rear seat backs and fold up the outer corners of the carpet to gain access to, and remove, the three 13mm headed hinge bolts per seat back. Lift the hinge out of the way, angle the seat backrest forward, and slide it off the center pivot. Do this for the other side as well. If you have a 1979-1993 Mustang Coupe, the seat back is held in at the bottom by two tabs and two retaining screws. Remove the screws and lift the seatback up and free of the car. 1983-1993 Mustang Convertible owners will pull forward on the lower part of the seat back cushion and push down on the top to release the rear seat back.

With the front seats laying on their backs, release the return spring, and remove the four 10mm bolts that retain the Mustang Seat Tracks to the seat bottom. Grab your #2 phillips head screw driver and remove the two screws that hold on the seat hinge recline lever cover. With a 3/8" ratchet and 13mm socket, pull out the two bolts that hold the recline side of the hinge to the seat base. Put a T45 Torx socket on your 3/8" ratchet and remove the inside hinge pivot bolt. Unplug the power lumbar air feed line (if equipped) and separate the seat bottom from the seat backrest. Grab the seat bottom and a 5/64" allen wrench and loosen the side bolster adjusting knob set screw and slide the knob off the shaft. With a small flat blade screwdriver, pop off the power lumbar switch face plate. The take out the two phillips head screws that hold the switch bezel to the seat bottom. Free the lumbar switch electrical connector from the seat frame and pull the switch assembly away from the seat base. Use the small flat blade screwdriver to release the switch retaining tabs an pull the trim bezel free from the switch. Tuck the switch back in to the seat base. On 1984-1991 Mustangs with the pull out knee bolster, grab a small hammer or a pair of channel locks and pull out the two roll pins at the back of the knee bolster slides and pull the knee bolster free from the seat. Unclip the four plastic upholstery retainers and cut the hog rings holding down the two pieces of listing. Roll the rear of the seat upholstery up over the foam; be careful not to break the lumbar air supply tube. Grab the razor knife and split the front of the seat upholstery along the bolster about four to five inches. Roll the front flap of upholstery up over the foam and carefully remove the two heavy metal clips that hold the retaining rods to the frame. Save these clips as you can re-use them later to reinstall. Slide the rods out of the upholstery and clip the remaining six hog rings from the seat bottom upholstery. Remove the listing wires from the upholstery (set the rods aside as you will reuse them) and toss the old upholstery in the trash. From the sides of the seat foam, you can access and cut the hog rings that hold the foam to the seat frame. Pull the old foam off and toss it in the trash. To disassemble the seat bolster on 1984-1991 Mustang, slide off the rear plastic trim, remove the four 8mm headed retaining bolts, set the metal frame to the side and chunk the old bolster. Repeat these steps for the other front seat.

Grab your front seat back and lay it face down, then remove the single phillips screw that holds on the seat back lever. Pry off the seat back release knob after that. Unzip the bottom of the upholstery, cut the hog rings that retain the upholstery rods, and pull the rods free from the seat back. using the razor knife make a slit up each side of the vinyl on the seat back. Do not cut straight up the middle as you will damage the lumbar bladder! Separate the lower portion of the foam from the Mustang seat back frame to gain access to the headrest. Use a flat blade screwdriver to release the retaining tab and slide the headrest along with the plastic guide sleeve from the seat. Roll the upholstery up to the first listing rod and release it from the foam. Roll the upholstery all the way to the top and clip the three hog rings. Set aside the two listing rods for reuse, pull the foam off the frame, and trash the old foam and upholstery. To unwrap the headrest, unclip the plastic tabs (1987-1989) or pull the two tacks and cardboard trim and pull the staples, then simply pop the foam out of the cover.

On to the rear seat back rests! With it laying face down, remove the single phillips screw that holds on the latch handle. Then, pull off the three phillips screws that hold on the latch trim bezel. Remove the two 13mm bolts that hold on the center latch pivot. With your push pin removal tool, release the nineteen push pins around the perimeter of the upholstery. Roll up the edges of the upholstery and cut the six hog rings retaining the upholstery to the foam. There are two on the top, two on the right, and two on the left. Before trashing the old Mustang upholstery, pull out the listing rods as you will need them later. This is a great time to replace your Mustang Hatch Carpet!!

This is probably the easiest part of any Fox Mustang Seat Upholstery Install - the rear seat bottom. The upholstery is held on the the foam seat bun with a whole bunch of hog rings all around the perimeter. Cut all those loose and the cover comes right off the foam. Now, you're ready to begin installing the new upholstery! With the rear lower seat bun in front of you, grab your new rear lower seat upholstery. Along the base of the foam, there is a metal frame with oval holes all around it. Those are the areas you want to place a hog ring. There are a lot of them! Starting on the back side of the seat in the middle, start crimping down hog rings. work to one side, then start back at the middle and work to the other. Move to the front side and again start in the middle, work to one side, then work to the other. Be sure to tug and pull to keep the upholstery tight as you go. Finally, pull the sides tight and hog ring them down.

Grab the rear seat back upholstery and use a pair of scissors to open up the ends of the listing loops. Install the three listing rods in the listing loops. Starting with the top listing, use two hogrings to attach it to the rod in the foam. Do the same for both sides. If your retaining push pins broke when pulling the old upholstery off, we have you covered with our 50Resto Rear Seat Back Upholstery Push Pins. Take 19 push pins and insert them in each one of the slots on the perimeter of the rear seat back upholstery. Once again, this is a great time to install a new Hatch Area Carpet Set! Roll the lip of the upholstery under and engage the push pins in the seat back. Reinstall the latch (if removed) and the center hinge pivot. Repeat for the other side.

To assemble the knee bolster for the front seat bottom, spray the foam with spray adhesive and do the same for the new plastic backing. Let the glue tack, and then stick the two pieces together and let dry. Slide the bolster foam and backing in to one of the plastic bags and slide it in the upholstery cover. Trim the plastic bag, fold over the two sides of the upholstery cover, and staple them down. Do the same to the top and bottom. Align the holes in the bolster to the metal backing, slide the plastic trim over the metal backing, and secure them together using the new bolts provided by TMI.

Take the front seat bottom foam and trim the marked area if your Mustang is equipped with power lumbar support. Lay it on the seat bottom frame and trim a hole for the side bolster adjustment knob. Cut open the edges of the upholstery listing loops and install the front and rear listing rods in the loops. Use three hog rings to attach the rear listing rod to the foam and use the three hog rings in the front listing rod to attach it to the frame. Insert the two large diameter listing rods in each side, being sure the rear of the rods engage in the retaining loops molded in the foam. Retain the front L shaped section of the rods to the frame either reusing the original heavy duty metal clips or a couple of hog rings per rod. Roll the upholstery down over the side bolsters; this will require a bit of effort, pulling, and tugging to get it smooth. Open up a hole in the foam, and then in the upholstery, for the lumbar support air tube to pass through. Finish rolling the upholstery over the sides of the foam and frame and engage the four plastic retaining clips on to the base of the frame. Trim a rectangle in the upholstery around the lumbar switch, and reinstall the switch bezel. Trim a hole for the side bolster adjusting knob and reinstall the knob. Go ahead and cut openings for the seat back hinge bolts to pass through. The pass-through slots for the knee bolster are already cut in the upholstery. Slide the knee bolster in to place and reinstall the retaining roll pins.

Luckily, here is another easy part! Slide the headrest foam assembly in to a trash bag, trim the trash bag, and slide it into the upholstery headrest cover. Fasten the plastic retaining clips.

Slide the front seat back foam bun over the metal seat back frame. Slide a plastic bag over the foam bun and frame assembly. Turn the seat back upholstery cover inside out and cut open the ends of the listing loops. Run the top listing rod in to the listing loop. Slide the top part of the upholstery over the foam and use three hog rings to secure the top listing loop to the seat foam. Roll the upholstery down to the next listing loop and install the middle listing rod. Engage the corners in the foam. No hogrings are used here because that rod is held in place by the two vertical rods. Continue rolling the upholstery down over the bolsters until it is fully unrolled. This will take a good bit of pulling and tugging effort. Insert the two large diameter vertical listing rods in their respective listing loops. Push down on the rod as it reaches the top of the foam to ensure it engages the retaining loop in the foam. Use two hog rings per side to lock the vertical listing rods in place. Lock together the plastic j-clips at the bottom of the front seat back foam. Install the backrest on to the seat base. Trim a slot for the headrest in the top of the seat backrest. Cut a slit for the seat back release and re-install the Mustang Seat Back Release Bezel and Knob. Slide the head rest in to place. Re-install the seat tracks and put your seats back in your Mustang!

Enjoy your new Mustang seat Upholstery and the joy of having done the install yourself.

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Published on 2013-05-20Replace your worn out Fox Body Mustang upholstery with some serious style! LatemodelRestoration.com is proud to offer the TMI 03-04 Cobra Upholstery Kits for the Fox Mustangs. This Mustang upholstery kit features a leather and suede combination that was made popular on the 03-04 SVT Cobra seats. The seat foam also features a much more aggressive seat bolster for improved butt holding power during aggressive driving. These upholstery kits are available in multiple different color combinations. Few the link above for more information!!

In this video, Jmac and Dean from TMI will walk you through the process of removing your old Mustang upholstery and installing new Fox Mustang upholstery. You will get plenty of upholstery tips and techniques along the way. Save some money versus the custom upholstery shops and add some attention getting looks to your Fox Mustang!

Stop cleaning dirty worn Mustang upholstery. Replace it with one of the many Mustang upholstery kits available from LatemodelRestoration.com.

**This same removal and install process will apply to our other Fox Mustang upholstery kits! **

TranscriptJONATHAN: With the newest of the Fox bodies being manufactured in 1993, you can imagine, there's a lot of wear and tear on those interiors. Now, you're faced with a decision. You can go back with something factory appearing, or you can upgrade as much as possible while keeping an OE appearance. Well, that's exactly what you can do with this '03-, '04-style Cobra upholstery for Fox bodies from TMI Products. It allows you to keep your stock seat frames, upgrade your foam, upgrade the materials, and get the sharper looks of the '03, '04 Cobra.

First thing you want to do is get your seats out of the car. Starting with the front, remove your front seat foot covers. Use a 15 millimeter wrench to remove the two retaining nuts. Slide the seat forward and lean the seat back forward. Remove the two 15 millimeter bolts. Lift the seat up. Unplug the power seat track, if equipped, as well as the power lumbar. And remove the seat from the vehicle. Repeat these same steps on the other side.

To remove the rear seat, apply pressure from the front of the seat toward the back and lift upward. That will release the retaining clips on the bottom. Remove the rear seat bottom from the car. Lower the rear seat backs down. You've got three 1/2-inch bolts on each side. Remove those bolts, and you can fold the bracket out of the way and slide the rear seat back off of the center pivot. Repeat this for both sides.

When it came time to get the information for removing and installing our Fox upholstery, where better to turn than the source himself, Dean from TMI.

DEAN SATTERFIELD: Well, good. Like I said, this is a great project for the weekend do-it-yourselfer. Anybody with reasonable mechanical skills can do this. We designed it exactly the same way that Ford put them on. And they needed a quick production process when they're assembling them online, so it's not that difficult. And so, if you want to follow these steps, you'll be able to install something for a complete professional installation, and save a whole bunch of money.

JONATHAN: First thing you want to do is remove your seat tracks. They're held on with four 10 millimeter bolts. Then you'll want to move on to the hinge cover and remove the two Philips head screws that retain it to the hinge. Grab you a half-inch or a 13 millimeter socket, and remove the two bolts retaining the recline side of the hinge to the seat base, and go to the other side and use a T45 Torx socket to remove the single pivot bolt on the seat back.

Then unplug the power lumbar feed line, and separate the base from the back. To disassemble the seat base, start by removing the bolster adjusting knob. Grab you a 5/64 Allen wrench. Loosen the set screw and slide the knob off the shaft.

Take you a small flat-blade screwdriver and remove the finish plate of the power lumbar switch. Remove the two Phillips head screws that hold the switch panel to the seat. Pop the electrical connector loose from the seat frame. Slide the switch out of the seat, release the two retaining clips and slide the switch bezel off of the switch.

To remove the knee bolster, grab you a pair of pliers or hammer, and remove the two roll pins. With those out of the way, you can remove the bolster from the base entirely. With the cushion side of the seat base facing down, remove the two hog rings that are holding down these two pieces of welt, remove the four plastic clips, roll the rear section of the upholstery up over the foam, being careful not to break the lumbar tube.

With a razor blade, cut the front along the edge of the front bolster, about four to five inches, and roll the upholstery up over the foam. Remove the two heavy metal clips that are retaining the upholstery rods to the frame. Remove the two rods from the upholstery. Remove the three hog rings along the front edge of the upholstery. Roll the upholstery back and remove the three hog rings from the center listing.

You could now remove the upholstery from the foam. From the sides of the seat base, you can access two hog rings per side. Clip those, and pull the foam free from the base frame. The last part of the front seat disassembly comes down to the pull-out knee bolster which is found on '84 to '91 models. These can be found in some pretty sad shape, kind of like ours here.

DEAN SATTERFIELD: But that's not a problem because TMI has made a replacement plastic insert piece for the cardboard that it originally came in, plus new foam, and the hardware. So it's complete, and it comes with all foam kits.

JONATHAN: Slide your plastic piece off of the pull-out bolster. Normally, you would have four bolts. Ours only has one left. Go ahead and grab you a 5/16 socket. Remove those. Then you can remove your metal frame from the foam. You can pitch the foam. You only need the metal.

Remove the single Phillips head screw that holds on the seat back release bezel, and then remove the seat back release knob. Unzip the zipper at the bottom of the seat back. Cut the two hog rings on each side holding in the upholstery retaining rods, and then remove the two upholstery retaining rods. Roll the seat over and split the upholstery from the bottom to the top, along the sides. Be careful not to cut up the middle, because you will damage your lumbar support bladder.

Peel the bottom part of the seat foam up off the frame, and access the headrest retaining clip. Release the clip with a flat-blade screwdriver and pull the head rest free from the frame. Make sure you've got your balance. You don't want to fall over. Roll the upholstery up and release the center listing rod from the foam. Roll the upholstery up all the way to the top, and clip the three hog rings.

Remove the upholstery from the foam, and remove the foam from the frame. To remove the headrest cover, release the plastic clips on the base, and then you can either squeeze the foam out of the upholstery, or you can split it up the sides and just pop it off the headrest.

Next, you'll need to grab your old seat bottom cover and seat back cover. Remove the two listing rods out of the seat back, and then remove the two listing rods out of the sea bottom. Remove the single Phillips head screw that holds on the release lever, and then the three Phillips head screws that hold on the release lever bezel. Grab you a push pin removal tool and work your way around the perimeter of the upholstery. You've got 19 push pins that need to be released.

Roll the edges of the upholstery and gain access to the six hog rings that hold the upholstery to the foam. Clip the two on the right side. Clip the two on the top. Clip the two on the left side, and remove the old poultry from the foam. After you've got the upholstery off your rear seat backs, now is a great time to go ahead and replace your carpet as well, because it is just sandwiched in there with the upholstery. And you also probably noticed that your push pins that were retaining upholstery, half of them broke.

Don't worry. We've got a new push pin kit to get you taken care of. Your carpet, held on with a couple of Phillips head screws and a few staples around the perimeter, comes right off. The new will go right back on. You don't have to re-staple it because the upholstery will hold it in place.

You have a bunch of hog rings around the perimeter of the bottom of the sea. They run along the front, the rear, and both sides. You can use a pair diagonal cutters, needle nose, whatever. You can pull them, cut them, just get them off, and then the cover will slide right off the foam.

This install can be done with mostly common hand tools, but there are a few specialty tools you'll want to pick up before you get started. One of which being a set of hog ring pliers and hog rings, along with the some body shop grade spray adhesive.

DEAN SATTERFIELD: You're also going to need an industrial staple gun and some trash bags we'll show you how to use a little later as well.

JONATHAN: And the moment we've all been waiting for. We get to go back on with our new upholstery. We're going to start with the rear seat bottom. Dean's going to take the lead, and I'm going to do exactly what he tells me to do.

DEAN SATTERFIELD: Well, the main thing is make sure you've gotten all the hog rings are removed. And then you'll notice, there's a metal frame inside the seat foam as well. And that's where all the hog rings were attached, but there's little holes in each part of this metal frame all the way around. So you got to make sure you're located back in the same spot that you took the hog rings out. So you're not running into hard metal in there as you go through.

You'll start by pulling the front section up over, and just sliding it up around the corners. And again, as Jonathan said, It's one of the easiest parts of this whole installation. We'll wrap it around, pull it tight, and then we'll start hog ringing. Start in the center in the very front, and you'll hog ring in the center position, and work your way to the outside, along that whole front end. There's about a dozen or so hog rings on this position. Just work yourself out the outer edge. Pull tightly as you're doing this, so it stretches the upholstery smoothly over the entire section.

As you're on the back section, you follow the same procedure. Hog ring from the center, and move yourself outwards, little by little, until you get to the outside corners. You'll be pulling and tugging as you get there. The outside corners, there's a little bit of extra material there are sometimes, and so you want to stretch up into the inside corner as tightly as possible, and hog ring them as quickly as possible. And it's OK to roll over the vinyl to get a proper stretch and position to hog ring. It doesn't matter. It won't hurt the vinyl to do that.

JONATHAN: With the rear seat bottom complete, let's hop on over to the rear seat back.

DEAN SATTERFIELD: You need to put the listing rods back into the listing loops in the back side of the upholstery. There are three of them, but you'll need to trim and cut an opening in each of the listing loops. Insert each one all the way around. Now we want to hog ring these down in position. You start at the upper horizontal listing rod first, and you'll have two positions to hog ring that in the channel. Now reach down and connect it by the hog ring directly to the wire that's in the foam itself.

Now move around to the side, and you will put two hog rings into the first vertical loop, and hog ring that down to the wire as well in two places. Move to the opposite side and repeat. Now, you will start folding over the upholstery and installing all of the push pins that will hold it into place with the carpet. Roll it under because it makes a blind seem as you attach it to the back rest. Now, you'll need to line up the holes with the carpet, and you may have to open up those holes a little bit so that the pins will line up with each of the holes in the carpet, and then go into the plastic backboard of the back rest.

Sometimes a little bit additional encouragement with a soft mallet, and perhaps protect it with a rag as you knock it down in place to make each of the pins lock into their holes. Continue until you complete all 19, all the way around the back rest. You're going to want to reinstall the hinge assembly. Make sure to line up the original bolt location by the scratches that are on that bracket itself. And then, at the bottom of the carpet, reinstall two screws to hold the bottom part of the carpet down. You want to make sure you're in far enough from the outside edge so that you can actually access the hinge points and brackets in there as well.

Moving up, you have the latch bezel. Put that back in, and put the three screws back in place. And then put the latch handle on and put its screw back in place.

JONATHAN: We're done with the backseats, so it's time to tackle the front seat bottom. All right. First step to assembling your knee bolster, you want to make sure that it's oriented properly. Glue the foam to the plastic piece provided with the new foam kit. Spray the foam with your headliner or body shop glue, then spray your plastic piece. Let the glue tack, and stick it together.

DEAN SATTERFIELD: Take the glued knee bolster pad to the plastic backboard. Slip it into that light plastic bag. This is one of the best little secrets. It makes it slip easily inside the upholstery cover. As you slide it in there, you'll bring it up and draw it up tight. Gather up all the rest of the plastic and then cut it off.

And then you begin to work the upholstery from the sides first. Staple it. Staple the other side as you pull it in. Go to the bottom and pull it over. Staple at several places while holding it tight. Go to the front and pull it up over the plastic edge, and staple.

JONATHAN: Slide your plastic bezel over the metal frame. Take your finished knee bolster, put it up to the middle frame, and use the four bolts provided by TMI to attach the knee bolster to the frame.

DEAN SATTERFIELD: Position the seat foam on the seat frame, and cut out along the marked area for the power lumbar switch to go, and for the side bolster adjusting knob. There's a stud right there. Clear that as well.

There are four listing rods on the seat bottom two long large ones on the outside and two smaller ones that go side to side. The furthest one back in the rear section of the seat, slide it into the pocket of the listing, and hog ring it down in three places. One in the center, and two on the outer edges. Pull the upholstery forward and wrap down and attach that listing rod to the front listing rod on the frame.

Now the long rods slide into the listing pocket from the front to back of the seat. The L-shaped section goes to the front. What's important to remember is to slide all the way back, and it has to be elevated in the front to shoot down an angle to go under the loop in the back of the foam. And attach it with either reusing the original square metal clips that came on it, or a couple of hog rings. Do the same on the opposite side.

Now start wrapping over the upholstery over the bolsters, and pulling, and tucking, and smoothing it out as you go, to pull it down underneath the upholstery. Now we need to open the pathway for the air supply tube for the power lumbar unit. Go back up underneath and position of where it exits through the frame, straight up through the foam, pushing with either a screwdriver or a sharp pick to poke through that, and poke through the back portion of the upholstery, so that it can be relieved to go out to the right-hand side of the seat.

Now, start peeling the upholstery back to the finished position, and start with the back upholstery section, and then clip and flip it to the backside of the frame. Moving to the right, move around and wrap that side panel over until it clips into the side of the frame. Then pull to the front and stretch it a little bit further than the sides of the frame, but it goes all the way into the middle on that rod on the very, very front of the frame. Then go to the opposite side now and finish by pulling it into the side near the power lumbar bolster section.

Cut a small square right around the actual physical switch itself, just barely enough to cover that. And then slide the bezel over that and attach it with its screws. And then put the facer plate on that says Power Lumbar over that switch. The side bolster adjusting knob, and you'll need to cut a hole, a small hole, for that to clear the shaft, and then slide the knob on and use the hex key to tighten that onto the knob in the position it needs.

You'll also need to cut the holes for the hinges to receive the back rest as well. There's two on the one side and one on the other side, but make sure you get those lined up. Do not cut until you're absolutely sure you have the correct hole locations on that. Cut just an X just large enough to get the bolt through that. Moving to the front knee bolster, there are two slots in the front of this upholstery to allow it to slide back inside. Slide it into the slot all the way, and put the roll pins back into position, either by hammering or with a pair of pliers to squeeze them into place to keep it in position.

Insert the headrest foam into the light plastic bag that you had, and insert one end in and work the other side inside of it as well. As you keep tugging, and pulling, and drawing it in, gather up all the rest of the plastic and then tear it off or cut it off to get it in enough to fall inside the cover itself. You flip the long, one-piece clip. Flip and roll the vinyl over until it's inside and has a nice clean finished end. And snap it down into the black two-piece clip on the other side, until it snaps and locks in place.

Slip the new seat foam over the frame all the way, opening up the back area to slip that rear crash pad area up all the way down on top until it seats completely onto the frame. You'll want to slip either a light plastic bag over the entire foam if you can, or you could use silicone spray to make the seat covers pull easily more easily over this. To get to the very top listing rod attachment, you will need to turn the upholstery inside out, and even collapse and invert the upholstery to make sure you can get the upholstery rod right into that particular listing loop. Its very tight in there, and so as much room as you can use. And put in three hog rings.

Now that you've secured the top listing rod, roll the upholstery down like a sock, turning it inside out, to the second listing rod location in that next seam that comes down. Slide the rod in place, push it down as far into the channel as you possibly can, so it's sitting flush on the floor of the channel. And then continue to peel back and roll the upholstery inside out again, until you kind of get it finally where it's completely rolled down all the way to the end. You will have to be pulling and tugging. The seat bolsters on this particular Cobra Fox seat is one of most aggressive bolsters, and so it takes a little bit of extra effort to get it to pull completely over, and work all the wrinkles out, and work it all the way down to the full length of the height of the seat back.

You can actually insert the large L-shaped rods that run up and down both sides of the insert. As you insert that into the listing loop, lifting up at the back, but angling it down towards the headrest area, you're pushing down in until it locks underneath the loop that's in the foam all the way up at the top corner. As you pull the rod all the way down, the L-section will turn towards the inside of the seat with the rod that's in the seat foam below. And at this point, you will hog ring down that rod to the other wire in the foam. Repeat for the opposite side.

Continue to pull and work it down, and then you're going to want to pull the upholstery all the way down over the back side, from the back and from the bottom, to meet the J-clips in the center on the bottom. You'll have to pull and tug again, because it's made to fit very, very tight and very, very proper, so it looks professional, and lock those two together.

Now we're going to put on the bezel and latch for the rear seat tilt mechanism, cut a small X in the vinyl right at the point where the pin is sticking through for the knob. Cut it up to the upper portions and down below it slightly so that the bezel will slide in. It has two legs on it. Then put the screw in at the bottom. Then snap the lever back over the knob itself.

To install the back rest to the seat base, install the right side star bolt to hold it in place, then also, while you're at that side of the seat, reconnect the lumbar hose fitting. On the adjustment lever hinge, put the two bolts back into the seat base and tighten them. Put the hinge cover over and return the two screws-- a long screw on the side, and the small screw on the rear.

To install the headrest, go to the top of the seat, feel for the opening in the foam, and cut an X large enough to fit that opening. Don't go too far. Re-insert the plastic sleeve into the hole, all way down flush with the top of the seat, and then slide the blade of the headrest down into the sleeve, all the way flush with the top of the seat also.

JONATHAN: Well, Dean, thank you so much for flying out here and helping us install this upholstery on our seats,

DEAN SATTERFIELD: We really appreciate it at TMI Products and the partnership with Late Model in being able to bring these great-looking seats to you guys.

JONATHAN: Of course, you can pick up this '03-'04 Cobra-style upholstery at latemodelrestoration.com. While you're there, pick up a matching set of door panels with the matching suede inserts, along with the matching suede headliner and sun visors. Or if suede's not your thing, we also have cloth and vinyl, and everything else that you need to fix up your Fox interior.

Testimonials

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I have been restoring my car for a long time. The engine is a 331 stroker afr 185 heads, trick flow r series intake, 1 3/4 in long tubes with flow master dumps. Sounds awesome and love it every ride. ...